


Puppy Love

by ruff_ethereal



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Post-War, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Explicit Language, F/F, Fantastic Racism, Faunus!Ruby Rose, Love at First Sight, Out of Character, Out of Character Ruby, Pre-Relationship, Racism, Swearing, This Ruby's had a hard life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 01:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21007712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: Auto mechanic Ruby Rose finds herself smitten by the new customer rolling into her garage--until she learns she's a Schnee, that is.An homage to Chapter 20 of Mattricole's "An Eternal Love Story."





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [An Eternal Love Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847705) by [Mattricole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattricole/pseuds/Mattricole). 

> I had an idea for a "how they met" with Mattricole's Bad Dog Faunus RWBY.

As always, the first thing Ruby noticed was the bike—and _d__ust,_ what a bike it was.

This was no “chopper” from surplus Great War parts, nor a “roller” straight off the assembly line; this was 100% an “ace” custom job, with all-original parts fabricated from top-grade materials, possibly even completely handcrafted from how intricate and downright _luxurious _the detailing and the design features were. It wasn’t just a looker, either: the engine didn’t roar, cough, or sputter, just smoothly purred like a jungle cat, barely a hint of smoke out of the exhaust pipe as it glided into the garage. Ruby couldn’t even tell when its rider hit the brakes, if at all, the motion was so smooth.

The rider killed the engine, dismounted, and kicked out the stand, Ruby’s eyebrows and dog ears perked up as she noticed the secondary fuel injector, a revolver mechanism mounted directly over the engine. All six cylinders were fully loaded with several different colours of dust, promising all manner of _exciting _effects if ever they were used.

“Shame they were probably supplied by the SDC...” Ruby thought, her ears drooping.

Someone loudly cleared her throat in front of her, Ruby snapped to them. She opened her mouth, prepared to let out her usual half-deadpan, half-annoyed, “Yeah, whad’dya want?”

Her jaw dropped as she realized who she was talking to: an _insanely _hot woman, with piercing blue eyes; snow white hair tied into a tight bun on one side of her head; and smooth, flawless skin like porcelain. And with Ruby seated behind the front desk, the way she seemed to loom high up above her, wearing that intimidating and sleek white leather jacket, and with that expression of mild contempt and disgust on her face…

… It _did _things to Ruby.

“Fuck, please be a Faunus,” she thought.

“Sorry to disappoint: I’m most assuredly a human,” the woman replied dryly.

Ruby’s eyes widened, her ears rose in alarm. “Double fuck,” she thought, both for accidentally offending a potential customer, and because that voice and that tone combined with everything else was doing yet more unspeakable things to her body.

Ruby swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat, and said, “S-So, whad’dya want…?”

She winced at she heard herself—_fuck_, she was so smitten, a lovesick puppy both figuratively and literally.

For better or worse, the woman did not notice, or did not care. “I heard that one of the best motorcycle mechanics in the city works here. I would like her to check on my bike, so if you would please tell me how I can arrange for her services, that would be _much _appreciated.”

In an instant, Ruby’s love-sickness was overtaken by pride. She stood up from her chair, put on a confident expression as she said, “You’re in luck: she’s in today, and standing before you right now.” She held out a greasy, calloused, oil-and-dust-stained hand. “Ruby Rose! Pleasure to meet you, Ms…?”

“Weiss Schnee,” she replied, as she prepared to shake.

Ruby’s eyes widened, her ears rose in alarm. “Wait, _Schnee?!”_ she sputtered as she shuffled back, knocking her chair aside, back hitting the file cabinet nearby. “As in, the ‘S’ in ‘SDC’ _Schnee?”_

Weiss groaned and rolled her eyes. “Yes, _that _Schnee,” she said as she dropped her hand. “Will that be a _problem…?”_

Ruby narrowed her eyes, her ears pulling back. “Do you_ really_ have no idea just how we Faunus see the SDC and your family these days? It’s been _decades _since your Grandpa was the head honcho, our buddy-buddy days are _long _over.”

For a moment, Ruby thought Weiss looked quite sad, before her face was back to the calm, cool, mildly contemptuous expression of earlier. “I’m _well _aware of the crimes and atrocities my father has committed against Faunus-kind, all in the name of the SDC,” she said coolly. “However, today, I do not come to you as a representative of the company, but as an interested customer of your business, and I _assure _you I can pay.”

Ruby snorted then turned her nose up. “Don’t even bother pulling out your wallet, _Schnee_; I know where that money came from, and that you do, too, and if you think I’m _eve__r_ going to accept Lien like that, your being hopelessly out of touch with reality is going to be the _least _worst thing I’ll ever say about you.”

Weiss sucked in a breath, and very slowly let it go. “So I suppose that’s a very definite ‘No.’?”

“It’s a very definite ‘Get the _fuck _out of here, before you regret ever having the balls to come riding in here.’” Ruby growled.

Weiss huffed. “That’s quite a lot of bark from such a little dog Faunus.”

“And if you don’t watch what you say, you’re going to find out just how much _bite _I have, too.” Ruby said as she slammed her hands on the desk, leaned forward with her fangs bared.

Weiss chuckled, before she calmly brought their faces barely inches away from each other, blue eyes staring directly into silver. “You say that like that’s a _bad _thing...~”

Ruby’s brain must have short-circuited in that moment, because the next thing she knew, Schnee was back on her bike, and driving out of the garage. Ruby walked over to the doors, watched her disappear around the corner with a deep frown on her face.

She wouldn’t miss the woman, but _damn, _she _really _wanted to work on that bike.

Ruby returned to the front desk, and proceeded to mope, even after the rest of the garage’s employees returned from lunch.

“Hey Ruby!” Yang called out as she walked to her. “Got ya some fried rice, plus some motherfucking egg rolls~!” She said dropped as she dropped a greasy brown paper bag on the front desk. When Ruby didn’t respond, she frowned, and leaned in. “Uh, y’ello? Ruby? Y’alright…?”

Yang knocked on the wooden desk, Ruby snapped out of her thoughts. “Gah! … Oh, hey, Yang. Sorry.”

“Somethin’ happen while we were gone, Sis?” Yang asked as the others returned to their stations, donned their protective gear and turned the machinery back on.

“Ah, yeah, a real fuckin’ tragedy,” Ruby muttered. “Customer came in earlier, wanted me to work on this _amazing _bike, a real piece of work.” She sighed heavily. “Had to turn her down, though.”

Yang blinked. _“You? _Turning down the chance to work on a kickass bike? The fuck _happened?”_

Ruby hesitated. She looked over her shoulder at everyone already wearing protective masks and earmuffs for both pairs, and listened to the loud whine of whirring machinery, sparking welders, and metal being shaped and cut. Then, she turned back to Yang, and quietly whispered, “She was a Schnee.”

Yang’s eyes widened. “A FUCKING **SCHNEE?!” **she yelled.

As if a bomb had just gone off in the middle of the garage, everyone flinched, yelled, or just barely kept themselves from accidentally sawing off a hand, or irreparably ruining whatever they were working on. In moments, every station was abandoned, all the machinery was powered down, everyone crowded around Ruby and Yang at the front desk.

“Did someone just say ‘Schnee’?!”

“Shit, did some Schnee goon come rolling around her earlier?!”

“Aw shit, are they trying to kick us out and move in _here, _too?!”

Ruby flinched and shrank, her ears flattened against her head, Yang scowled as she started pushing and herding everyone back. “Back up, back up, everyone back the _fuck _up! And pipe down while you’re at it! Give us some fucking space, alright?!”

When everyone had calmed down some, she turned to Ruby and asked, “You alright, Rubes?”

“Yeah, I’m better.” Ruby said in between deep, shaky breaths.

Yang nodded. “So, ya think you can tell us all about what the fuck just happened earlier, while we were out?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said, before she told them a shortened, heavily edited version of her encounter with Weiss. She minimized her gawking at her bike, left out the parts where she was so incredibly smitten by her beauty, and emphasized the part where mentioned payment, and Ruby reminded Weiss of the _less-than-__friendly_ relations between SDC and the Faunus.

“So I told her, ‘Get the _fuck _out of here, before you regret ever having the balls to come riding in here.’, and the bitch was smart enough to leave.” Ruby said with a smug smile. “Doubt we’re going to have any more problems with her anymore.”

The other staff cheered and congratulated her, Yang waited for them to calm down before she said, “We better figure out what to do if she comes back, anyway, though.”

“What, you think I wasn’t scary enough for her?” Ruby asked, annoyed.

“No, I _know_ she’s a rich human born into the life,” Yang said as she fished a pencil out of a mug, took an order form and flipped it on its blank side. “People like her spend all their lives never taking ‘No’ for an answer, thinking they just have to start throwing more Lien until you say ‘Yes’. We need to figure out what to do, that’s going to make it loud and clear we’ll _never _be bought—”

“I say we _break her legs!”_

“—But _won’t _get any of us arrested, or the whole shop closed down in revenge.” Yang finished, annoyed.

“Aww…”

“So, any ideas?” Yang asked.

The rest of the shop spent a half-hour discussing contingency plans if Weiss ever returned, before they went back to work. By the end of the work day, the story had spread like wildfire among the Faunus community, but it was only in the privacy of her and Yang’s bedroom did Ruby confess to everything she had left out.

“… By the time my brain got back to working, she was already driving off on her bike, turned left straight back to uptown.” Ruby said, laying on their bed and staring at the ceiling. “Fuck _me_, Sis, the hell did she mean by that?”

“The best case scenario? She was fucking with you because she was so pissed off.” Yang said as she sat on a ratty, patched-up recliner.

“And the worst case scenario?”

“It’s some sick, twisted game she’s playing.” Yang said. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard of some rich human playing with a poor Faunus’ heart, like it’s just another toy of theirs to be bought and tossed whenever they feel like it. And given how much her old man seems to _enjoy _doing horrible things to us for the hell of it, it wouldn’t be surprising, either.”

Ruby nodded, before she looked troubled.

Yang noticed. _“Ruby Rose: _please do not tell me you are_ seriously_ considering that Weiss Schnee—yes, _that_ Schnee—was legitimately, honestly coming onto you.”

Ruby blushed. “… I mean, it’s really more of a ‘thought exercise’, you know…?”

Yang groaned, and facepalmed. “Ruby: I know you’re a dreamer, and that’s the secret sauce that makes you such a great mechanic… but trust me, with this, you _gotta _face the facts.

“You two are on the opposite sides of so many different worlds—human and Faunus, rich and poor, native and immigrant, uptown and downtown, the list goes on, and on, and on! It’d be several miracles, and a _damn _good thing for the whole world if you could both somehow bridge _all _those gaps…

“… But there’s a better chance of you falling, and falling _hard, _and when you hit the ground, it’s going to be a _helluva _lot harder than it ever will be for her.”

Ruby sighed, and grumbled in agreement. “Dust, I wish she wasn’t a Schnee.”

Yang sighed. “I wish she wasn’t, either, Rubes.”

“It’s fucking pathetic, I’ve been thinking all day about all the things I would have done to her, if I could have taken her into the back of the shop...”

Yang cringed. “Ruby, you know I love you, and that will never, _ever _change, but I don’t want to hear you fantasizing about fucking Weiss _fucking _Schnee!”

Ruby scowled and sat up. “Her _bike, _Yang!” she snapped. “I was talking about her _bike.”_

Yang blinked. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, you can do that.”

Ruby relaxed, and laid back down. “But you know, if she offered _herself_, too…”

“OKAY! I’M OUT! I’M STAYING AT A FRIEND’S PLACE! SEE YOU IN THE MORNING, RUBY!” Yang said as she shot up her seat, grabbed some clothes laying around, stuffed them into a bag then left.

_Slam._

Ruby winced from the sound, sighed as the night became as quiet as it could be in their neighborhood. “Yang has a point, you know that… but _maybe...” _she groaned, shook her head, and turned over on her side to sleep.

At the very least, there was no harm in dreaming about a life where Weiss wasn’t a Schnee, or Ruby was a Faunus, or really, any scenario where they could actually be together.


End file.
